Wondering How to Become a Financial Advisor?

If you want to learn how to become a financial advisor, you will need to get licensed, develop a business plan, and get properly trained.

How to Become a Financial Advisor Step 1

Dream big! This is a great business and you can do well while doing good for others. Set big goals, understand the role of a financial advisor and the value you can deliver to clients, and go to work on building your business. Success in the business is a marathon not a sprint, so focus on incremental victories as you progress towards your bigger goal.

How to Become a Financial Advisor Step 2

The next step of how to become a financial advisor is to affiliate with a broker dealer or affiliate with a registered investment adviser (RIA). Another option is to “dual-register” with both a broker dealer AND a registered investment adviser, which is known as a “dual registration” and referred to as a “hybrid business model.” When you find the right firm—with the right culture and support—it will add synergy to your quest of how to become a financial advisor.

How to Become a Financial Advisor Step 3

Pass your securities exams. On the broker dealer side this is a Series 6 and Series 63 or a Series 7 and Series 63. On the investment adviser side it means passing your Series 65. If you are dual registered you can either pass a Series 6, 63, and 65 or pass your Series 7 & Series 66. The Series 66 examination combines the Series 63 and Series 65 into one examination, however, the prerequisite is the Series 7 exam.

How to Become a Financial Advisor Step 4

The licensing exams teach you the regulatory side of the business, but they don’t teach you the practical aspects of how to be successful. A professional financial services firm should have a training program that will teach you the fundamentals of how to become a financial advisor. You need to learn how to analyze portfolios, understand products, learn about the financial planning process, how to communicate with clients, how to present proposals, how to serve clients with excellence, and much more.

How to Become a Financial Advisor Step 5

While getting licensed satisfies the regulatory requirement of how to become a financial advisor, it doesn’t satisfy the more important issue you should be exploring: how to become a financial advisor that is successful. Many advisors are not successful and leave the industry within the first couple years. Given the tremendous commitment required to get into the industry, you will need a clear, focused, and actionable business plan for acquiring and serving clients. Work hard with a trainer and mentor to develop a plan that you can consistently execute once you are licensed.

How to Become a Financial Advisor Step 6

Find a successful mentor who can help guide you in how to become a financial advisor. The key is finding someone who is successful, not someone who started two weeks ago. The right mentor can teach you the craft of financial advising and impart their wisdom and experience into your business as you progress.

How to Become a Financial Advisor Step 7

Work hard! The hard work you do as a financial advisor isn’t manual labor or physical in nature, but rather it is a psychological endurance challenge. You need to build relationships and talk to enough people to find the 50-100 clients you will have the mutual privilege of working with over the long term. This requires you to talk to a lot of people and and prospect for clients. If you are the best financial advisor in the world but don’t talk to potential clients you will have an extremely frustrating career. My advice to you: pay the price up front, get out of your comfort zone, and enjoy the long term rewards of success.

If you want to learn more about how to become a financial advisor and explore some of these topics in greater detail, read my other blog articles or email us.

Jonathan Miller, President & CEO or Parsonex, is an accomplished financial advisor and entrepreneur. He has managed over $200 million in client assets, trained hundreds of financial advisors and built several successful companies.

Parsonex Enterprises, Inc. is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado and owns several companies including two FINRA registered broker dealers, an SEC registered investment advisor, an insurance agency and a franchise company. The firm has 9 branch offices and over 60 independent financial advisors across the United States, including five franchise locations.